1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of medical therapeutic agent delivery. More particularly embodiments of this invention relate to methods and devices used for local delivery of water-soluble or water-insoluble therapeutic agents to the surface of normal or diseased body lumens.
2. Background Information
Sporadic, inherited, environmental, and iatrogenic diseases associated with significant morbidity and mortality develop in the wall of endothelial cell-lined and epithelial cell-lined body lumens. For example, atherosclerosis and post-procedural restenosis develop in the arterial wall. Adenocarcinoma, esophageal varices, and cholangiocarcinoma develop in the gastrointestinal tract wall. The efficacy of systemic drug therapy for these diseases may be limited by inadequate drug delivery to the diseased tissue and/or dose limiting toxic effects in non-diseased tissue. Local delivery of drugs to diseased tissue in body lumen walls can overcome these limitations: therapeutic concentrations of drugs can be achieved without systemic toxicity.